John on Wine – a wine blog

John M. Cesano

Ukiah, CA 95482

Phone: (707) 671-2363

E-mail: JohnCesano@aol.com

Summary:  I have a degree in marketing, decades of wine industry experience, am a highly skilled wine industry professional, and can join any team and perform exceptionally, lending my passion and skill/knowledge set to my employing winery’s needs.

Job Objective: Wine Industry Sales, Marketing and Promotion

Experience:

Job Title: Tasting Room Manager and Wine Club Coordinator

Employer: McFadden Vineyards, Hopland and Potter Valley, CA

Dates: 03/11 to Present

Duties: Hospitality, face to face marketing, sales and promotion. Use all tools at my disposal to increase revenue and grow wine club membership. I also serve as the Secretary of the Board for destination Hopland.

Results: Increased Hopland Passport revenue 25.51% less than one month in place as tasting room manager. Increased next Passport net wine revenue, with seven months experience, 187.56%. Increased established wine club BBQ dinner ticket revenue 9.97%. Increased wine club membership 55.12% in first six months as wine club manager. Event specific marketing saw increases of 228.73% in sales on Second Saturdays this year, aiding the year’s total revenue growth. Generated online buzz through effective social media marketing for tasting room, vineyard, and farm – caused doubling first three year’s media coverage in less than nine months on job. When I took over after the first quarter, numbers were down 33.24% for the year, and I worked – with my great team – until we saw December’s record revenue put us up for the year.

Job Title: Winery Marketing Consultant

Employer: Wine Refined, Grants Pass, OR

Dates: 01/10 to 03/11

Duties: Helped numerous wineries improve their skill set and expand the tool kit used in both social media and traditional marketing ventures. Helped create event oriented marketing opportunities. Focused on interactivity, two way communication, ultimately to increase revenue.

Results: My successes with wineries in Napa and Oregon led me to land my current full time winery position putting to practice what I have been preaching.

Job Title: Wine Writer

Employer: JohnOnWine.com, Ukiah, CA

Dates: 04/09 to Present

Duties: I write regularly about wine. I review wines I taste, write feature articles about wineries I visit, describe wine events I attend, and share my thoughts on various wine industry topics.

Results: I have a highly ranked, often read wine blog, and demonstrate a passion and ability for quality writing. I have an “in” with other online writers and was able to bring many of my fellow writers to Hopland for Passport, generating nice pieces for McFadden and Hopland before, during, and after the event.

Job Title: Wine Accessory Marketing Specialist

Employer: Falbrecht Studios, Santa Rosa, CA

Dates: 10/87 to 02/11

Duties: Marketing and sales at hundreds of Trade Shows, Art Shows, and Craft Shows in over 30 states throughout the country for attendances ranging from 5,000 to 1/2 million.

Results: My experience honed my in-person presentation abilities. My travel throughout the country allows me to more quickly establish rapport with people as I am able to work the landmarks near their homes into our conversations.

Job Title: Marketing and Sales Rockstar

Employer: Wine Appreciation Guild, South San Francisco, CA

Dates: 01/01 to 08/02

Duties: Marketing directly to the tasting room managers, wine club managers, and sales and marketing managers at wineries within 42 California Counties.

Results: After being headhunted for my marketing prowess, I expanded WAGs marketing footprint enormously, from 4 to 46 counties, with a highly mobile traveling trade show program.

Job Title: Dir. of Trade Show Marketing

Employer: Windsor Vineyards, Windsor, CA

Dates: 01/93 to 01/01

Duties: Created and ran a successful trade show program for Windsor Vineyards.

Results: Exhibitor Magazine awarded me the Expert Exhibitor Award over thousands of other trade show exhibitors three consecutive years. Planned and executed the meet the winemaker dinner for the winery in Chicago – the 110 seat restaurant sold out in 15 minutes. Met more of my customers for private tastings at our Healdsburg tasting room each of my eight years than any other employee, while posting the winery’s largest average sales from tastings.

Skills:  MARKETING,  SALES,  COMMUNICATION,  SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING,  EVENT SPECIALIST,  PUBLIC RELATIONS

Education: Bachelor of Science in Marketing

CA Drivers License Class: C (passenger car), M (motorcycle)

Willing to relocate: Yes, but it would be difficult to pry me out of either Mendocino or Sonoma Counties.

Additional Comments: Created and managed numerous high Return On Investment marketing initiatives. Able to coordinate valuable old school marketing education, work experience, and skill with newer web 2.0 based social media marketing interactive messaging.

References: Available on request